US 'starving' Iraqi out of homes prior to attack--UN off

A top UN human rights investigator has publically described a US tactic of cutting food supplies from towns before they attack in order to force civilians from their homes.

These people would have nowhere to go--into the desert? toward the lines of US soldiers surrounding the towns?

Would you want to take your children in to this?

There are reports of people starving as a result. Or course, a US military spokesman, denies the US is using such a tactic. The story is also reported by the BBC.

In the BBC story, the US spokesman, after denying use of the tactic, then rhetorically asked what use the supplies would be in a war zone?

"...Lieutenant Colonel Steve Boylan, a US military spokesman, later rejected the accusations...It does not do relief supplies any good if you have them going into a firefight," he said.
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:f0x37CSLed8J:news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4344136.stm+ Jean+Ziegler+Iraq+supplies&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

 Snips from the story in the INDEPENDENT below:

16 October 2005 09:25 Home > News > World > Middle East

US practice of starving out Iraqi civilians is inhumane, says UN

By Bradley S Klapper
Published: 15 October 2005

The United States-led coalition's alleged practice of cutting off food and water to force Iraqi civilians to flee before attacks on insurgent strongholds is a "flagrant violation" of international law, a United Nations rights advocate said yesterday. The action is inhumane and causes innocent people to suffer, said Jean Ziegler, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food.

The Geneva Conventions on warfare, which form the basis of international humanitarian law, not only forbid denying food to civilians, but actually make the occupying force responsible to provide it, he said. "This is a flagrant violation of international law."

--snip--

Mr Ziegler said he would present a report on 27 October at the UN General Assembly in New York expressing his personal "outrage" at the alleged practice and calling on countries to condemn it in a resolution. He cannot submit a UN resolution himself.

--snip--

[Muddy Paws' comment: The starvation tactic has succeeded in forcing thousands from their homes into the desert -- who knows what disasters befell them after fleeing into the 100 degree desert?  Havent found any reporting on that anywhere -- probably because reporters can't get there.]

[Back to story. Ziegler] conceded that the practice helped to "save tens of thousands of lives" but made the point that many civilians were unable to come out.

Those that remained behind in insurgent strongholds such as Fallujah, Tal Afar and Samarra have suffered as a result of broken supply lines, he asserted.

And some have even starved, he claimed.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article319725.ece